1886 



GLEANIJ^GS IN J3EE CULTURE. 



(511 



PREVENTING SECOND SWARMS. 



TEN QUEENS IN A COLONY AT ONE TIME. 



Up bout two years ago, if I am not mistaken, 

 qIm Prof. Cook gave a method of preventing in- 

 j^Ip crease of colonies by swarming. Briefly, 

 -^^ the phin was to remove all queen-cells and 

 two frames of brood from the colony that 

 cast the last swarm, and then hive the new swarm 

 in that colony. I have tried that plan for three 

 years, having practiced it one year before the inib- 

 lication of Prof. Cook's article. Generally the plan 

 has been very successful; but in one respect it has 

 proven a failure. To prevent misunderstanding I 

 will give my jilan in full. After warm weather be- 

 gan, so that the bees could fly, I began feeding to 

 stimulate brood-rearing, so as to have early swarms, 

 and most colonies swarmed in fruit-bloom. Prob- 

 ably all would if I had not put more frames in 

 some of the hives, giving the bees more room. 



When they began swarming I would remove all 

 queen-cells from the hi\e that cast the last swarm, 

 take out two frames of brood, and give to some 

 nucleus, replacing them with empty combs, and 

 put the next swarm in that hive. If I had not put 

 on any crates I did so at once. If a crate was on 

 the hive I put on another. My queens are all clip- 

 ped. As for swarms coming out in fruit - bloom, 

 the plan was a success. No lighting, no after- 

 swarms; the queens were all accepted at once. 

 About once a week I looked through for queen- 

 cells, but seldom found any. But after white clo- 

 ver was in Moom, the old stock and the swarm 

 would go to fighting unless I smoked them thorough- 

 ly, and the queen was killed in every instance. 

 This has l;)een my e.vperience forthi-ee years. Not 

 a queen has been killed before the bees began to 

 work on white clover. Every one has been killed 

 after white clover began. I should like to ask if 

 any others have had like CA'perionce. 



On the ITth of May a colony cast a swarm. I 

 caged the queen, moved the hive around, and put 

 a new hive on the old stand. AVhcn about half the 

 swarm had entered, another colony cast a swarm 

 —a second swarm, as I had purposely left the 

 queen-cells in. This swarm at once began to enter 

 the hive with the other. I caught the queen, and 

 let the two go together. 1 gave them a frame of 

 brood with eggs, and did not look at them for 

 more than two weeks. Then on opening the hive I 

 found yz queen-cells, 7 of them open. On further 

 search I found three young queens on the frame. 

 Of course, I thought the queen was dead; but, to 

 my surprise, on the third frame I found the old 

 queen and a young queen on the same side of the 

 comb, and another on the other side. On the next 

 frame were the other two. The next day 1 found 

 two more queens, and the next day another, which 

 had hatched the )U'evious day— ten live young 

 (lueens in one hive! Can you etiual that? The 

 colony from which the larger swarm came last 

 year, 1 " unqucened," and they .sealed 3() (jueen- 

 cells on one frame. The colony cast a swarm, and 

 that is the one that cast the second swarm. 1 un- 

 queencd them this spring, and they built and scal- 

 ed 29 queen-cells; so queen-raising would seem to 

 be hereditary in that colonj'. 



As so much is said on folding sections, let rae 

 give my way. Take a board about 13 inches long, 6 

 wide, and one thick. Cut otf one end perfectly 

 square; nail on a piece of board about flvo inches 



wide and as long, so that it shall make an exact 

 right angle, and be exactly as high as a section; i}^ 

 inches from this, nail a cleat on the bottom board. 

 Bend the section in the middle, and put the corner 

 tlius formed against the cleat; press the sections 

 into the angle lormed by the upright; now bend 

 the top down, and one l)low of tlio mallet will finish 

 the section. After a few minutes' practice, tlie sec- 

 tion can be pressed into the form, readyjlor the 

 finishing tap, as (luiekl.v as it can ordinarily be 

 bent together, and it is hai-dly possible to bend one 

 out of true. S. J. B.\ldwin. 



Nelson, Ohio, June 25, 1881). 



Friend 15., yon liave gotn (iiieen that seems 

 willing to i)ermit young queens to be reared 

 in the colony without molestation. Such 

 queens are found in almost every apiary, 

 every little while, and they are very valua- 

 ble for queen-rearing, inasmtich as we can 

 rear queens rigiit along and still have a 

 queen constantly keeping the hive populous. 

 Such queens would be as great <in acquisi- 

 tion to the bee-keeper as non-sitting hens 

 are to the jtoultry-raiser. The matter has at 

 different times been pretty thoroughly dis- 

 cussed in our baclf volumes. By all nieans, 

 save every one of those queen's, and see if 

 you can't get a strain of bees that will allow 

 several iiueensin a hive all at the same time. 

 A rac;' of queens that won't quarrel ! just 

 think of it, friends ! what an acquisition it 

 would be ! and 1 feel just as certain that it 

 can be managed as that we can get a strain 

 of kohlrabi-seed or caulillower-seed that will 

 give plants true to name every time. Prof. 

 Cook has for a good many years scolded be- 

 cause we don't try to improve our queens, 

 instead of trying to protluce them so cheap- 

 ly. Why can we not do for bees just what 

 the world is doing for small fruits, garden 

 vegetables, and the like? 



QUEEN-EXCLUDING HONEY-BOARDS. 



C.AIiNlOLAN HEES, ETC. 



fHE value of perforated zinc in honey-boards, 

 1 have this season established to my full sat- 

 isfaction. The (]uestion had been. Is it not 

 an obstruction to the work of bees in su- 

 iters ? I can now answer that il is not. Its 

 introduction to bee-keepers has made possible sev- 

 eral new inventions in hives that, without it, 

 would be quite impracticable. By its use, surplus- 

 receptacles can be placed over very shallow 

 brood - chambers with success; and, if desirable, 

 we can take in marketable shape almost every 

 drop of honey a colony can produce. In the spring 

 we can build up colonics, and enlarge the brood- 

 nest to the full capacity of the queen; and then at 

 the right time we can limit her work and prevent 

 the rearing r.f non-i)roducing workers to any de- 

 sirable extent. 



The feature of greatest merit in the new Heddon 

 hive is the horizontally separable brood-chamber; 

 and my experiments so far this. season have prov- 

 ed that it is worthy of all the praise that has been 

 bestowed upon it. But, as predicted in Glean- 

 ings for March 1,5, it is impracticable to use such a 

 hive on the contraction phinjn the produotion of 

 comb lioney without ii (jueca-e,\cluding honey- 

 board. Three years since, I lound that it was im- 



